Well it looks like the latest incarnation of The Lone Ranger was a bit of a dud critically and commercially. It's too bad because I think there is a great movie to be had with the character if handled properly. It'll probably be another 20 years before he gets a theatrical chance again, so maybe it's time to give The Vigilante a shot at the big screen! Country singer by day, masked hero by night, maybe some cameos from his teammates in the Seven Soldiers of Victory... I know I would buy a ticket!
12 comments:
I'm a little tired of these westerns, so I don't really care if they don't make another one. BUT, in reference to your Soldiers of Victory comment, I would absolutely LOVE to see a Shining Knight movie, preferably one that takes place during World War I (Shining Knight is accidentally sent from King Arthurs Court to 1910 era Britain to defend it). Sword, Sorcery, Dragons, and Fighter Bombers, what's not to like? I'd like to see you use Shining Knight here as well.
there is a Shining Knight/Black knight cover in the archives.
As one who still loves watching the old movies and tv shows featuring singing cowboys, I would love to see a Vigilante movie.
John Wayne was in a comic???
This image was just an illustration I found but Wayne definitely starred in some comics at the height of his career.
Love it!
@Bob Greenwade: Licensed likenesses from radio, movies and eventually television have always been in comics and there was a time in the Eisenhower era when most-- MOST-- prime time TV shows were westerns. It would be harder to think of a movie cowboy who didn't have their own comic. Charlton alone published Tim McCoy, Sunset Carson, Lash LaRue, Rocky Lane, Gabby Hayes, Tex Ritter, and Monte Hale. And that's just the comics named after actors. That doesn't even count fictional and historical figures who were the subjects of movies and TV shows at the time (Wyatt Earp, Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone, Billy the Kid, etc.). John Wayne was published by Toby in the US, but that image doesn't come from any of those. (It looks like a photo for a face with a body drawn under it.)
Hex and the Outlaw Josey Wales!
Here's my reason for skipping The Lone Ranger: the way the film was promoted. I'm burned out on Johnny Depp. We're in a rut where he's in every movie of every different genre. I didn't like his Willy Wonka; I didn't like Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. Dark Shadows was pretty good, but it could have been better - less of a farce. I like the idea of the story told from Tonto's perspective, but to make The Lone Ranger a Johnny Depp movie and not an Armie Hammer movie was a mis-step.
Plus, I believe that some films just can not be updated. The Lone Ranger isn't just a Western, but it's a turn of the century Western. It's harder to look back at the Old West from 2013 than it was in the '30's, '40's and '50's. We look at our heroes differently than we used to.
I saw the film. It wasn't great, but frankly, Johnny Depp pretty much SAVED the film from being a complete disaster. He had a unique yet powerful take on Tonto, an outcast. Why would a Native American pal around with a white masked cowboy? Depp provided a powerful backstory to that. The uncomfortable truth of the genocide of Native Americans is brought full bear in this film. Many people decry films that have a "revisionist" take on the past. But what they are REALLY complaining about is that their "rose-colored" idealist vision of history (Caucasian Cowboys in white hats crusading for "justice") has been taken from them. Reality hits you hard, bro! Just ask any person of color.
@Energy Law: actually, Depp _cheapened_ the film by playing a Native American! Some might even be justified in calling his portrayal a racist parody.
@Energy Law: then why didn't a real Native American portray Tonto instead of a Tim Burtonized Caucasian?
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